Throughout the series, there are times when Will and Carlton argue and fight in 2022 Bel-Air. Both cousins are very different in personality. Being from West Philadelphia, Will grew up on the streets and he is laid-back. Carlton grew up in the affluent area of Bel-Air; thus, he likes neatness, order, and precision.
Due to such vast differences, they disagree with many aspects. Living under the same roof further inflames their conflicts. The conflicts indicate issues they have in trying to understand each other and live in harmony.
Why Did Will Often Clash with Carlton?
Below are the reasons why Will and Carlton always have issues:
1. Personality and Lifestyle Conflicts
Will and Carlton simply clash in Bel-Air due to the great differences in their respective personalities and lifestyles. Will is casual, cool, and street-smart from a tough neighborhood in Philadelphia. He likes to be laid-back in his way of life and does not bother much with fitting into the upper-class circle of Bel-Air. Regarding Carlton, he tries hard to fit in and keep up an image of perfection.
Whereby he is uptight with organization, social position, and rules, Will is carefree. Carlton often feels that Will is too casual or disruptive in his attitude and actions, while Will finds Carlton’s focus on appearance and status to be shallow.
This again, creates a situation where many arguments and misunderstandings develop within these conflicting ways of life and thought. Their different ways of approaching life render them unable to cope with their life and view things from each other’s point of view.
2. Impact of Peer Influence
Will and Carlton’s conflicts in Bel-Air are strongly peer-group driven. His friends from Philadelphia, who had a more easygoing attitude and were more rebellious, continuously urged him to be himself and voice his opinion about social issues, which constantly put him at odds with Carlton.
Carlton’s peers focus on maintaining a high social status and often avoid controversial topics to fit in. They pressure Carlton to follow their lead, which makes him avoid conflict and downplay issues important to Will. This difference in peer influence creates a divide between them.
Will frustrates due to the fact that Carlton never fights for what he believes in, and Carlton is always torn between standing with his friends and supporting Will. Much of their conflict is driven by their friends’ opinions.
3. Family Expectations and Pressures
Family expectations and pressures in the series Bel-Air tighten the relationship of Will and Carlton. There is such pressure on Carlton to be perfect and live up to his parents’ high expectations. He wants to be recognized as a very successful and obedient son, so he is more concerned with his image and achievements.
Similarly, Will has very little pressure on him to conform and is more anxious about being true to himself; he continually argues with Carlton, as he doesn’t understand why Carlton seeks to meet family expectations so relentlessly.
It is his need to fit into his ideals of how his parents would want him to be that causes him to feel unsure of himself and at odds with Will, who at times projects challenges to the expectations themselves. Misunderstandings and conflicts arise among them since their different ways of dealing with the pressure in their families vary.
4. Jealousy and Insecurity
One of the major reasons Will and Carlton fight often is jealousy and insecurity. Will is new in Bel-Air, and his easy charm at school quickly catches the other kids’ attention, and soon he becomes popular.
In a short while, he becomes the center of their attention, something that makes Carlton jealous and insecure given his hard work to be fit and maintain his ranking. He feels like Will’s success may take all the attention from him and make him look unimportant.
Will’s rising popularity and careless attitude will bring Carlton’s struggles and fears of not being good enough. That kind of jealousy drives Carlton to act out and get into fights with him.
The whole attitude of Carlton upsets Will, who doesn’t understand why Carlton can be so consumed with status. All these jealous feelings and insecurities cause lots of stress and make it really hard to put up with.
5. Communication Breakdown
Poor communication between the two in Bel-Air is one factor that brings about many fights between Will and Carlton. They cannot simply talk their minds out with each other and often misunderstand each other. Will says whatever he means and is straightforward in whatever he says, most of the times sounding blunt and may hurt a lot.
Carlton, on his part, hardly means what he says, indirect conversations are incomprehensible, and he would not say anything that shows him not to be perfect. It is the difference in their ways of communication that makes them misjudge each other’s intentions.
For example, Will might think Carlton is phony or patronizing, while Carlton might think Will is too confrontational or disrespectful. Because they do not communicate effectively, their problems are escalated to further conflicts. A breakdown in effective communication will make it very hard for them to work out their issues and understand the other person’s point of view.
Another reason why Will and Carlton had a lot of conflicts that stemmed from the fact that they obviously competed for their family members’ attention and favor. Coming from Philadelphia, Will has received more attention because he is new and quite different.
His presence in school and charming traits make him popular; hence, all concentration is shifted to him, away from Carlton. He had always put much effort into trying to be the star in his family’s eyes and feels threatened when Will is successful.
He works hard to keep up his image and his parent’s approval; however, it would appear as though Will gets most of the attention. This might be a competition between them for their parents’ praise.
Such rivalry leads to tension: Will is exasperated by Carlton’s compulsive competitiveness, and Carlton feels insecure in his family standing. The brothers constantly argue due to their competition over this attention-and feel their conflict deeply.
